Mint Brook Meadow Teas has very graciously sent along a case of Hobbit Tea for TCG to give away - I have been trying some (that I bought myself when it first was announced ) and I am loving it! you should try some too - either take the plunge and buy a box or a few at The Hobbit Tea website or enter this contest to get a sampling of the three types of tea they have released so far. If you like teas at all (two are herbal, one is black tea with some lovely extras mixed in) I am sure you will like these. Plus the boxes are very well illustrated, so they look great on the shelf for the collector as well.

In order to enter the contest, please post a response to this message. In your response, tell a little bit about yourself and Tolkien - a favorite passage in the books, a favorite memory of them or how they affected you, a precious collectible you found somewhere along the line, etc. Half the fun will be reading everyone else's tidbits, so don't be too terse! Feel free to keep the conversation going, but each person will only be entered once.

If you are not a registered user or do not want to become one, just use the Contact Us link to send your entry - I will add these posts to the discussion thread manually (your email address will not be shared publicly).

The contest will be open through the end of March, 2010. TCG will pay for shipping three boxes of tea (one each of the three blends currently available) to each of six winners, drawn at random from the legitimate entries made in this thread. Entries submitted here or via the "Contact Us" link must contain a valid email address so that I can contact the winners at the end of the contest.

Hello all. I have been a fan of Tolkien as long as I can remember. Like many my first book was The Hobbit. I couldnt put it down. I read and reread one summer until book started falling apart. Then came Dungeons and Dragons -wow. Myself and a group of friends were in a world of our own, sure beat drugs!

Favourite part of a book has to be Riddles in Dark -Chapter 5 The Hobbit. I know its boring but I still love it to this day. Other favourities are Tolkiens piece in Essays to Charles Williams and review Devils coach Horses. Great reading.

My book collected days started 20+ yrs ago with a Smith of Wooton Major. Paid £5 (not worth much more now!) but I had my first first edition. I was well chuffed and I still have it.

I find collecting is three part - Firstly the chase! Finding that book at fantastic price before anyoneelse does!Secondly - I am getting very picky as got older swooping a book for a better copy. Regulars will get this point i'm sure. I'm on my third Farmer Giels of Ham and still not happy!Thirdly - Staring at them on shelf. I admire my books. Sad I know and I have not got the biggest collection in world.

Finally best find. Tricky this bit but best financially -almost mint Peoples of Middle Earth for £30 last year. Most satisfaction Sir Gawain & Green Knight with d/j at modest sum!

As soon as I read Urulókë's comment, "Plus the boxes are very well illustrated, so they look great on the shelf for the collector as well," I had to post in this thread. I would share the tea with friends (am now hoping that I do get drawn) and keep the boxes! Just need to figure out where so I could hide them from my wife. Am certain that all of my other Tolkien items in total wouldn't occupy one-tenth the space that some of our friends' collections do. But that doesn't make her any less suspicious when I come home with a cardboard box!

Love LotR which eventually led to my obsession with the calendars (as anyone who has read any of the Tolkien Calendar Collecting thread will know.) Am on the track of some "new" ones (recently discovered anyway.) And just collected a 1986 Methuen with the original paper mailer (in good collectible condition) which I have been looking for "forever."

It's a wonderful Spring day here in The Green Hill Country (even if the calendar says it's still winter until 22 March.) Nevertheless, it was all blue skies and well over 50 degrees F today.

Good luck to all! Thanks to Urulókë (would like to know the etymology of that name!) for starting the thread. I will follow with interest.

Parm

Posted on: 2010/3/17 15:23

_________________
Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise can not see all ends.

Without Tolkien, my life simply would not be what it now is. I would not be married to my wife, and therefore our beautiful daughter, whose genetic makeup is (like everyone's) unique, would never exist.

Tolkien has been a big part of my life for as long as I can recall. One of my dad's favorite films was the animated version of 'The Hobbit' by Rankin Bass (who you'll know from having done Thundercats) and I grew up on it like Disney. My father still contends to this day that just as Adam West is the definitive Batman, John Houston is the definitive Gandalf.

Dad wasn't as into Ralph Bakshi's animated 'The Lord of the Rings' but to this day I still find it very enjoyable, with a great deal of narm charm. I only regret that it was never finished, and I wore out a VHS TV-recorded copy by watching it so very many times.

When I was about ten years old I actually read 'The Hobbit' for the first time. I had to steal the book from my brother's collection. He'd received it a a Christmas gift, which is ironic because I'd wanted it and not got it, whilst my brother does not share my Tolkien obsession to this day.

Around the same time, I discovered that Rankin Bass (who did 'The Hobbit') also randomly did an animated version of 'Return of the King'. I thought it very strange, as they'd not bothered doing either of the first two parts. Still, my love affair with Tolkien expanded and continued, and by the time I was 12 I'd nicked and consumed my brother's 'Lord of the Rings'.

Afterward, thoughts turned to other things as soon high school and girls were at the forefront of my thoughts. I never ceased my love affair with Tolkien, and often tried to encourage others to read his main works throughout my high school years. I have at least one very good friend to this day who has a love of "The Lord of the Rings" at least due to my own obsession bleeding onto him a bit. Despite this, I managed little Tolkien reading during high school myself, except perhaps to re-read 'The Hobbit' and 'The Fellowship of the Ring'.

It was in my senior year, however, that I heard a great deal more about an upcoming live adaptation of 'The Fellowship of the Ring'. I began to devour all I could learn of the project, whilst simultaneously re-reading "The Fellowship of the Ring" in anticipation of the first film's release in 2001, the year following my graduation.

My old love affair was rekindled anew as I continued to re-read each part of the trilogy prior to Peter Jackson's respective film release. By the time the credits rolled on "The Return of the King", my only niggling regret about the films was that there was not more of them, and so I began to delve into the areas of Tolkien's works that I'd not glanced at before: "The Silmarillion", "Leaf by Niggle", "Farmer Giles of Ham", "Smith of Wootton Major", "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil", "Roverandom", "Letters from Father Christmas", etc.

It was also around this time, in March of 2004, that I met who is now my wife in an online forum which geared itself to works of fantasy in both literature and film. Obviously, it was my love of Tolkien which had led me to the forum, and Helen and I met on a thread regarding Tolkien-related tattoos. I'd had Tolkien's signature symbol tattoo'd to my leg in November, 2003 in anticipation of the release of "The Return of the King". Helen had her own name transcribed in an Elvish script on her wrist.

This was the icebreaker that led to daily emails being passed back and forth, and I became more and more smitten with her with each passing month. As we did not have a physical relationship, we were forced to get to truly know each other through communication. I quickly found that she was kind, charitable, and the most intelligent person I'd never met. The only problem I saw was that she lived 3500 miles away in England, whilst I was stuck in the USA. However, after several months, she flew to Chicago in August of 2004 and we met in person. It was in Chicago on a breezy, sunny, August day that my wife handed me a gift from England, a box of Twining's English Breakfast tea. I'd never tried hot tea before, but thus began a new love affair. I prefer Earl Grey these days, but I'd never have given tea a second glance if that gorgeous brunette with the English accent hadn't introduced me to it.

Fast forward several years, and we have now been married three years and have a 2 year old daughter. My own Tolkien book collection has become 'our' book collection. It now includes volumes of 'The History of Middle-Earth', which I'd never looked at. My film tie-in sword collection is now 'our' sword collection. My Glamdring, Sting, and Shards of Narsil have joined Helen's Herugrim, Knives of Legolas and Hadhafang, along with my prize, Anduril, which my wife gave to me as a wedding gift.

None of this would have been possible without my (edit: and indeed my wife's!) love-affair for Tolkien.

After reading Mr. Burns' post (apparently his first in these forums), I formally ask that if my name is drawn the tea be sent to him. This is a great story and merits the gift! Besides, the tea would be much more appreciated by the two of them! Congratulations to you both.

Away from The Green Hill Country,

Parm

Posted on: 2010/3/23 18:54

_________________
Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise can not see all ends.